Fiscal Tools for Planning Objectives : Development Charges and Sending the Right Price Signals to Achieve Policy Objectives

The Ontario Development Charges Act provides a uniform legal framework governing how municipalities may impose on development the costs associated with such growth. This paper challenges the manner in which municipalities go 'about calculating these charges. It is argued that municipal practices through omission or commission are resulting in a defacto policy of development that runs counter to the aims of Provincial and even their own municipal policy. This defacto policy is the result of a disconnect between planning and finance officials at the municipal, while constraints of the Development Charges Act further enforce these inefficiencies. To achieve policy goals finance and planning officials must work together to create pricing signals both reflect the costs of infrastructure and ties aligns developers' interests to those of the municipality.